The music that motivates

I went swimming after work on Thursday and was just going for a bit of a lazy swim as I hadn't had much to eat that day and didn't feel like I had much energy, but once I got into the pool I just kept going.

It was warmbadtag - where they heat the pool up beyond normal levels for one day a week - and so I was quite happy just enjoying the warmth (after all the wet, slushy, snow we've had recently). There were a load of old (and slightly large) ladies in the pool, most swimming slowly and chatting, which caused occasional problems when I wanted to pass them whilst also trying to avoid the annoying guy that kept getting far too close going the opposite way. Despite that, I was keeping up with the one length a minute target that MQ challenged me to (and has since passed that goal himself I believe). At some point a cute guy* fell into the pool (I don't know why he couldn't climb in like everyone else) and I started to get distracted a little, slowing down as I approached the 30 length mark.

Then, the aquarobics (is that what it's called?) lesson started in the adjoining pool. With cheesy music starting to blast out of the speakers I couldn't help but feel a little more motivated. Music such as 99 Luftballoons (99 Red Balloons), Country Roads, It's Raining Men and lots of others kept me going until I'd done 60 lengths in just under an hour. That's about 1.5 kilometers (give or take the times I had to stop short of the end due to ladies chatting, or dancing along to the music in the next pool) which I'm quite impressed with. Although an hour to swim that does sound like quite a long time, considering how much more quickly I could walk it. Hmm.

* he didn't actually swim very much, kept disappearing off to the showers, and I'm sure kept looking over. I should have said hello... is it ok to say hello to random people in pools? :)